“Next year we will see lower milk prices—probably lower than the cost of production at some Minnesota dairies,” says Marin Bozic, a University of Minnesota dairy economist quoted in the story.

Pat Lunemann, a 700-cow dairy farmer from Clarissa, Minn. and president of the Minnesota Milk Producers Association, says dairy farmers are prepared for the downturn. In good times, such as 2014, farmers paid bills and reduced debt, “because you know that these times come.”